Board members at Saint Vincent’s Hospital have voted to authorize the closure of the cash-strapped institution.
The closure only affects inpatient services at the hospital’s Greenwich Village location.
In a released statement, board chairman Alfred E. Smith IV cited the ongoing struggle to close a nearly $700 million debt.
“The decision to close St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan inpatient services was made only after the board, management and our advisors exhausted every possible alternative,” Smith said. “We are deeply saddened that we were unable to come up with a viable plan to save the inpatient services at the hospital that has proudly served Manhattan’s West Side and Downtown for 160 years.”
While no timeline has been announced, hospital officials say patients who are currently at the facility will be discharged or transferred to nearby nonaffiliated hospitals.
Additionally, elective surgeries will continue on a case by case basis, though it is believed all will cease after April 14, 2010.
Today’s vote comes after a six-month long effort to save the hospital, which included several booster shots of cash from the state.
(Source: NY1)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
They may reopen it once they make everyone buy medical coverage. A huge reason for this is a new twist in bailouts. We will be bailing out the hospitals for giving out constant free care to illegals. Yet another price to pay for not having immigration laws.